Thais monitor mobiles for militants

Page Tools

Thailand has asked telecommunication agencies and mobile phone
operators to register all users of prepaid services to prevent
militants from using phones to trigger bombs, senior officials said
on Tuesday.

More than 640 people have been killed, several in bomb blasts,
since a separatist insurgency erupted in Thailand's three
Muslim-majority southern provinces in January 2004.

"All the mobile phone operators had agreed in principle to
register SIM card buyers' information based on 13 digits on their
identification card so that we can trace them," Khanawat
Wasinsungvorn, vice minister for Information and Communication
Technology, told reporters.

Most of more than 120 bombs detonated over the past 15 months,
including a deadly blast earlier this month at the international
airport in Hat Yai, southern Thailand's business hub and a tourist
gateway to the region, were triggered by mobiles, the
Matichon newspaper reported, citing figures from its own
tally and a security analyst.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he was confident the new
measure could reduce bomb attacks and be welcomed by the public
without the government having to introduce any new law forcing
telecom operators to comply.

"Absolutely I am confident that if the measure is in place it
would ease bombing attacks significantly," Thaksin told
reporters.

But he said militants may switch to buying SIM cards from other
countries.

"If they cannot use locally bought SIM cards then they will buy
mobile phones from overseas, so we also have to find measures to
control the roaming system," he said.

Thaksin said that there was no problem for operators to register
the more than 20 million pre-paid users as the system was
computerised. Khanawat rejected press reports Tuesday that the
ministry would cancel SIM cards for mobile phones whose users
failed to register with authorities within six months of being
asked to, or draft a law for that purpose.

"We will not go that far ... and we may offer incentives to them
by handing out free pre-paid mobile cards" to those who register,
Khanawat said. Interior Minister Chidchai Vanasathidya said he was
confident the measure would also help prevent drug trafficking and
transnational crime.

"For a long time I've felt the need to control buying SIM cards
... so I hope all the public will cooperate for the sake of
national security," Chidchai said.